POLICY BRIEF

Sex Work
as Work

Global Network of Sex Work Projects 1

 Sex Work as Work
Introduction
Sex work is work. This simple yet powerful statement frames
sex workers not as criminals, victims, vectors of disease, or
sinners but as workers. The adoption of the term ‘sex worker’
in the 1970’s coincided with and signified the beginnings of a
global, intersectional sex workers’ movement 1.
Sex work is first and foremost an income-generating activity. The
International Labour Organization (ILO) estimates that sex workers
support between five and eight other people with their earnings. Sex
workers also contribute to the economy. In four countries surveyed,
ILO found that the sex industry provides between 2 and 14 percent
of gross domestic product. In Thailand, for example, the sex industry
generated about US$6.4 billion in 2015, a figure which accounted for 10
percent of Thailand’s GDP. Thai sex workers send an annual average of
US$300 million to family members who reside in more rural areas of
Thailand. Additionally, while 65 percent of sex
industry workers are sex workers, the industry
Sex work is work. This simple also generates employment for auxiliary cleaning,
yet powerful statement frames security and driving services 2.
sex workers not as criminals, Sex workers’ workplaces and working
arrangements are diverse. Sex workers can be
victims, vectors of disease, or self-employed or employed and engage in sex
sinners but as workers. work part-time or full-time. Sex work can be
formal in that some sex workers are engaged
in an employer-employee relationship with an
establishment. However, where criminalisation excludes sex work from
national labour laws, sex workers have no option but to accept what
are often exploitative working conditions. Additionally, criminalisation
of third parties makes the establishment of formal workplaces,
including establishing any contracts or workplace regulations, illegal.
However, much of the sex industry is informal, with sex workers
operating independently, individually or collectively with other sex
workers. Within the informal sector, there are also a variety of working
arrangements and business models 3. Like many other informal sector
workers, these sex workers are often excluded from social protections
and work under more precarious conditions.
The struggle for the recognition of sex work as work is closely
tied to the struggle for decriminalisation. Central to the demand
for decriminalisation is the argument that sex workers should be
afforded the civil and labour rights and social protections that are the
entitlement of all workers, regardless of occupation.

1 Elena Jeffreys, “Sex worker politics and

the term ‘sex work’”, Research for Sex Work
14 (September 2015): 4–5.

2 International Labour Organization, 1998,

“The Sex Sector” available at http://
www.ilo.org/global/publications/ilo-
bookstore/order-online/books/WCMS_
PUBL_9221095223_EN/lang--en/index.
htm (accessed 31 May, 2017).

3 Jane Pitcher “Sex work and modes

of self-employment in the informal
economy: diverse business practices and
constraints to effective working”, Social
policy and society 14.1 (2015): 113–123.

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Exploitation and unsafe and unhealthy working conditions exist in

many labour sectors. Work does not become something other than
work in the presence of these conditions. Even when performed under
exploitative, unsafe or unhealthy conditions, sex work is still work.
Indeed, criminalisation, by perpetuating stigma, discrimination and
social marginalisation and by alienating sex workers from formal labour
protections, creates conditions in which violations of sex workers’
rights, including their labour rights, can continue with impunity.
Recognition that sex work is work is the starting point for addressing
these conditions, to be able to organise and advocate for improved work
environments for sex workers.

International Policy Framework

The right to work, to choose one’s work, and to fair and safe working
conditions are fundamental human rights.
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) states that
“[e]veryone has the right to work, to free choice of employment, to
just and favourable conditions of work and to protection against
unemployment 4.” These provisions are expanded
The Universal Declaration of and made legally binding in the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Human Rights (UDHR) states that (ICESCR), which most countries have ratified. The
ICESCR requires states to “recognize the right
“[e]veryone has the right to work, to work, which includes the right of everyone
to free choice of employment, to to the opportunity to gain his living by work
which he freely chooses or accepts, and will
just and favourable conditions take appropriate steps to safeguard this right 5.”
of work and to protection It further obliges countries to ensure “safe and
healthy working conditions” and a fair wage.
against unemployment .” Other labour rights enshrined in the ICESCR
include gender equality in working conditions
and remuneration, the right to form associations and trade unions,
and access to social security benefits, including paid maternity leave or
maternity leave with adequate social security benefits.
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination
Against Women (CEDAW), also ratified by the majority of countries,
reaffirms the right to work “as an inalienable right” and commits its
signatories to working towards the realisation of equal workers’ rights
for men and women 6, including choice of employment and access to
work-related benefits, occupational health and safety provisions, and the
support required to fulfil family obligations, work responsibilities and
participate in public life. CEDAW specifically obliges states to counter
“exploitation of prostitution of women.” Thus, states have committed
4 United Nations, “Universal Declaration of to addressing exploitation in the sex industry. This statement does not
Human rights” available at http://www.
un.org/en/universal-declaration-human- imply that all ‘prostitution’ is exploitation; rather where exploitation
rights/ (last accessed 29 June, 2017). exists, it must be addressed.
5 United Nations Human Rights Office of
the High Commissioner, “International
In most countries which have ratified the legally binding, international
Covenant on Economic, Social and human rights treaties discussed above, sex work is criminalised. This
Cultural Rights” available at http://www.
ohchr.org/EN/ProfessionalInterest/Pages/ contradiction potentially creates space for sex worker organisations
CESCR.aspx (last accessed 26 June, 2017). to hold their governments accountable; recognition of sex work as
6 United Nations Human Rights Office of work would oblige governments to acknowledge that international and
the High Commissioner, “Convention
on the Elimination of all Forms of
national labour treaties, laws and policies also apply to sex work.
Discrimination against Women”
available at http://www.ohchr.org/EN/
ProfessionalInterest/Pages/CEDAW.aspx
(last accessed 26 June, 2017).

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ILO and the Decent Work Agenda

The International Labour Organization (ILO) is the UN agency which
promotes workers’ rights by setting international labour standards and
issuing normative guidelines. The Fundamental Principles and Rights at
Work, adopted in 1998, commits member states to uphold four universal
rights, regardless of economic development level 7. These fundamental
principles and rights are:
◗◗ Freedom of association and the effective recognition of the
right to collective bargaining.
◗◗ Elimination of all forms of forced or compulsory labour.
◗◗ Effective abolition of child labour.
◗◗ Elimination of discrimination in respect of employment
and occupation.
ILO has advanced the goal of ‘decent work’, including through
their Decent Work Agenda 8. The concept of decent work involves
“opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair income,
security in the workplace and social protection
for families, better prospects for personal
…in a rapidly changing, development and social integration, freedom for
globalised work environment, people to express their concerns, organize and
participate in the decisions that affect their lives
“certain workers are labouring in and equality of opportunity and treatment for all
unacceptable conditions…and that women and men 9.”
policies to improve these forms of Decent work and the four pillars of the Decent
Work Agenda – employment creation, social
work are … urgently needed.” protection, rights at work, and social dialogue
– have become integral elements of the 2030
Agenda for Sustainable Development 10. Goal 8 of the 2030 Agenda calls
for the promotion of sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic
growth, full and productive employment, and decent work. Key aspects
of decent work are also embedded in many of the other 16 Sustainable
Development Goal targets.
ILO has also identified Unacceptable Forms of Work (UFW) 11, defined
as work arrangements that deny fundamental principles and rights at
work, put at risk the lives, health, freedom, human dignity and security
of workers or keep households in conditions of poverty. The concept
7 International Labour Organization, of UFW relates to precarious, vulnerable and informal employment,
“ILO Declaration on Fundamental
Principles and Rights at Work and its
and is based on the observation that, in a rapidly changing, globalised
Follow-up” available at http://www. work environment, “certain workers are labouring in unacceptable
ilo.org/declaration/thedeclaration/
textdeclaration/lang--en/index.htm (last
conditions…and that policies to improve these forms of work are …
accessed 26 June, 2017). urgently needed 12.”
8 International Labour Organization,
“Decent Work” available at www.ilo.org/
decentwork (last accessed 26 June, 2017).

9 Ibid.

10 International Labour Organization,

“Decent Work and the 2030 agenda for
sustainable development” available at
http://ilo.org/global/topics/sdg-2030/lang-
-en/index.htm (last accessed 31 May,
2017).

11 International Labour Organization, 2015,

“Unacceptable forms of work: a global
and comparative study” available at
http://www.ilo.org/global/publications/
WCMS_436165/lang--en/index.htm (last
accessed 31 May, 2017).

12 Ibid.

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ILO’s Stance on Sex Work

ILO’s Recommendation 200 13, adopted in 2010, addresses HIV and AIDS
and the world of work. Recommendation 200 establishes principles and
standards for workers’ rights to be free from HIV-related stigma and
discrimination; to occupational health and safety; and to access to HIV
testing, prevention, treatment, care and support.
It also addresses employer and government
…sex workers argue that ILO should obligations to develop policies and programmes
go further in acknowledging sex which protect those rights.
work as work and send a message While sex work is not specifically mentioned,
Recommendation 200 applies to all workers
to the international community working under all forms or arrangements, and
and national governments… at all workplaces, including “persons in any
employment or occupation” in “all sectors of
economic activity, including the private and
public sectors, and the formal and informal economies.” The Committee
minutes concretely affirm that sex work is covered by the instrument 14.
Subsequent ILO documents reinforce and expand on the
acknowledgement of sex work as work:
◗◗ Reaching out to Sex Workers and their Clients emphasises HIV prevention
interventions with sex workers should also address structural
drivers – such as lack of social protections, stigma, discrimination,
marginalisation and violence – which make sex workers vulnerable
to HIV 15.
◗◗ Leaving No One Behind: Reaching Key Populations through workplace action on
13 International Labour Organization, 2010,
“Recommendation 200: Recommendation HIV and AIDS documents good practices in workplace interventions to
concerning HIV and AIDS and the world
of work” available at http://www.ilo.
address HIV among key populations, including sex workers 16.
org/ilc/ILCSessions/99thSession/texts/
WCMS_142613/lang--en/index.htm (last Despite this progress, sex workers argue that ILO should go further in
accessed 26 June, 2016). acknowledging sex work as work and send a message to the international
14 International Labour Organization, “Fifth community and national governments that sex work is indeed work,
item on the agenda: HIV/AIDS and the
world of work – Report of the Committee which is not inherently harmful and exploitative, and promote the
on HIV/AIDS” available at http://www. realisation of sex workers’ labour rights in the workplace 17.
ilo.org/ilc/ILCSessions/99thSession/pr/
WCMS_141773/lang--en/index.htm (last
accessed 26 June, 2017).

15 International Labour Organization,

undated, “Getting to Zero through the
NSWP policy on sex work and labour
world of work” available at http://www.
ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/@ed_
NSWP’s Consensus Statement 18 affirms that the right to work, with free
protect/@protrav/@ilo_aids/documents/ choice of employment, is one of eight fundamental human rights sex
genericdocument/wcms_185717.pdf
(last accessed 18 July, 2017). workers are entitled to. Sex workers have the fundamental right to:
16 International Labour Organization, 2014, ◗◗ Work and free choice of employment (including sex workers living
“Leaving No One Behind: Reaching Key
Populations through workplace action on with HIV).
HIV and AIDS” available at http://www.
ilo.org/aids/Publications/WCMS_249782/ ◗◗ Regulatory frameworks that govern labour conditions and occupational
lang--en/index.htm (last accessed
26 June, 2017).
health and safety. At a minimum, sex work must be consistent with
17 Global Network of Sex Work Projects,
the fundamental principles of the ILO and must receive the same rights
2015, “The real impact of the Swedish and legal protections as other groups of workers.
Model on sex workers: No. 5: Right to
work and other work-related human ◗◗ Safe and healthy workplaces in which sex workers are compensated
rights” available at http://www.nswp.org/
resource/the-real-impact-the-swedish- and are treated with respect, and which are free from health hazards
model-sex-workers-advocacy-toolkit
(last accessed 26 June, 2017).
and abuse, including sexual violence and physical violence.
18 Global Network of Sex Work Projects, ◗◗ No discriminatory dismissal from employment based on sex
2013, “Consensus statement on sex
work, human rights and the law”
work history.
available at http://www.nswp.org/
resource/nswp-consensus-statement- ◗◗ Equal access to labour codes and to other labour rights.
sex-work-human-rights-and-the-law
(last accessed 31 May, 2017).

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NSWP members demand that governments and responsible authorities

take the following proactive measures to realise and respect this right:
◗◗ Repeal laws that criminalise the selling and purchasing of sexual
services and third parties, families, partners and friends.
◗◗ Recognise sex work as an occupation and its inclusion in ILO
categorisation of occupations.
◗◗ Recognise that there is nothing inherently harmful or exploitative in
buying or selling sexual services.
◗◗ Accept that sex workers of all genders and health status be allowed to
work in the sex industry.
◗◗ Recognise that sex work must not be subjected to ‘special’ laws or
extra taxes that serve to further restrict or exploit sex workers. Instead,
sex work must be regulated by standard labour and business codes,
including occupational health and safety standards.
◗◗ Support work-related social and financial entitlements including
annual, sick, and parental leave, medical and parental benefits,
accident compensation, pensions and all other benefits enjoyed by
other groups of workers.
◗◗ Accurate information about health and safety, including the provision
of occupational health and safety standards, must also be provided.

Sex worker organising using

a labour framework
Sex work remains a feasible livelihood option for us. It enables a decent living
compared to the alternative informal labour market alternatives. Through
the incomes generated from sex work, sex workers have been able to support
their families. In many cases, sex workers are the prime income generators.
They have also been able to create other financial
assets for themselves (property, gold, savings in bank)
Advocacy for the recognition that has given them financial security and the means
and protection of sex workers’ for a sustainable, decent living.
VAMP, INDIA
labour rights is a central issue
Sex worker organisations consulted for this policy
around which sex workers brief see the principle of sex work as work as the
organise in all regions. foundation on which their organising is based. As
EMPOWER, Thailand, said:
We want an end to discussion of whether or not sex work is work because
we see this discussion as akin to debating if ‘Black lives matter’ – it’s
the truth and anything else is alternative fact. We see that this ongoing
discussion distracts us from finding solutions to the real problems.

19 Kate D’Adamo, “Beyond sex work as
work”, Research for Sex Work 14 (2015):
9–10.
Advocacy for the recognition and protection of sex workers’ labour rights
is a central issue around which sex workers organise in all regions.
This advocacy sees commonalities between sex work and other forms
of intimate labour, predominantly undertaken by women, which have
gender, class and race dimensions and are often informal, undervalued
and underpaid 19. It views the sex workers’ rights movement as part of a
broader struggle for economic justice, offering the possibility of alliances
and knowledge-sharing with other global movements 20.

20 Ibid, 10.

Global Network of Sex Work Projects 5


If sex work is
law is not the appropriate tool
to regulate the sector.
21 New Zealand Prostitutes Collective,
“Report on experience: decriminalised
sex work and occupational health and
safety in New Zealand”, Research for Sex
Work 14 (2015):39–40.
POLICY BRIEF Sex Work as Work
NSWP members are using diverse, creative strategies to advance
an understanding of sex work as labour. They educate and raise
consciousness among other sex workers. They also provide counselling,
social, health and legal services to each other, and engage policy makers,
the media and allies.
NSWP members identified ten benefits of a labour approach and shared
examples about how they organise to advance the sex work as work
agenda. These are summarised below:
Ten benefits of a labour approach
1 Legal protection
There are fundamental legal implications to recognising sex work as
work. If sex work is work, then it is not a crime, making criminalisation
an inappropriate legal model. If sex work is work,
then it is not synonymous with exploitation, and
work, criminal therefore clients and third parties do not need to
be indiscriminately criminalised.
If sex work is work, criminal law is not the
appropriate tool to regulate the sector. Sex workers
are protected by the same labour laws that protect
the rights of all workers in the country, and other laws that protect the
rights of all citizens.
Nevertheless, even in the absence of decriminalisation, governments
must uphold sex workers’ rights as workers:
Rights of all workers have to be respected, protected and fulfilled
irrespective of whether the national governments recognize the work
or not.
VAMP
Emphasising that lack of recognition harms sex workers, CAFAF
Ghana argues:
[R]ecognizing sex work as work is the surest way to position and claim the
rights of sex workers. This would as well help protect [us] from exploiters,
abusers and [we] could take legal action whenever they are exposed
to dangers.
New Zealand
Since passage of the Prostitution Reform Act in 2003, sex workers have
had access to employment mediation services such as the Disputes
Tribunal and the Human Rights Commission, to uphold their workers’
rights. The New Zealand Prostitutes Collective is usually the first port of
call for sex workers; they advise and support sex workers in dealing with
problematic working conditions. In one judgement in 2014 by the Human
Rights Review Tribunal, a brothel operator was ordered to undertake
sexual harassment training and to pay a sex worker NZ$25,000 damages
“for humiliation, loss of dignity and injury to the feelings of the sex
worker.” 21
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The Kylie Case, South Africa

In 2006, SWEAT and its legal partner, the Women’s Legal Centre,
represented ‘Kylie’, a sex worker who was unfairly dismissed from a
brothel. The Commission for Conciliation, Mediation and Arbitration
ruled that its jurisdiction did not extend to illegal work. Kylie took the
case to the Labour Court, which referred the case to the Labour Appeals
Court. The Labour Appeals Court ruled in Kylie’s favour, asserting that
the criminalisation of sex work in South Africa should not deprive any
sex worker of their constitutional rights and that, as vulnerable workers,
sex workers should enjoy the protection of the Labour Relations Act.22

2 Reduced stigma
Stigma and discrimination against sex workers have broad negative
implications, including creating an environment conducive to social
exclusion, violence, and HIV/STIs. Labelling
sex workers as criminals or as victims is
Stigma and discrimination against equally stigmatising.
sex workers have broad negative On the other hand, framing sex workers as
workers is fundamentally non-stigmatising. In
implications, including creating an this framing, sex work is accepted as a job and
environment conducive to social can thus be judged by the same standards that
are applied to other jobs.
exclusion, violence, and HIV/STIs.
Framing sex work as work can not only reduce
stigma from others but also internal stigma.
SWOP Behind Bars distributes newsletters to incarcerated sex
workers in the USA, and regularly receives letters expressing that
the newsletter’s sex workers’ rights perspective has changed the way
they view their own lived experiences, and that they no longer judge
themselves for having engaged in sex work.
Treating sex work as work also allows for the positive aspects of
sex work, including financial benefits, flexibility, independence, job
satisfaction and the sense of providing an important service, to be
shared without shame. For example, according to Project X, Singapore,
“for many single mother sex workers, sex work is the only job that
allows them to balance work and family and personal life.”
Furthermore, destigmatisation of sex work through a labour framework
can create space for sex worker participation in civil society. Legalife
Ukraine held workshops with journalists to educate them about sex
workers’ rights and about the benefits of decriminalisation within a
labour framework. Media debates between newly sensitised journalists
and police attracted the attention of politicians, who had previously
refused to meet with sex worker organisations. As a result of the social
media attention, politicians have now renewed their engagement.

22 International Labour Organization, 2010,

“Kylie v. CCMA and Others” available
at http://www.ilo.org/aids/legislation/
WCMS_329494/lang--en/index.htm
(last accessed 12 June, 2017).

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3 Setting standards for decent work

and reduced exploitation
Central to a labour rights approach to sex work is recognition of the
agency of consenting adults in sex work and the distinction between
sex work and trafficking. Within a labour framework, standards of
‘decent sex work’ can be established, and exploitation can be addressed
more easily.
Criminalisation, in fuelling stigma, social marginalisation and mistrust
of police, social services and other authorities, deters sex workers from
reporting exploitation they experience or witness. Treating sex work
as labour can reverse the current popular, but mistaken, conflation of
sex work and trafficking. NSWP members argue that understanding the
difference between the two phenomena would enable police to respond
more effectively to exploitation or coercion, for example, by focusing
resources on identifying cases of exploitation.
Some sex worker organisations have set up self-regulatory mechanisms
to support the concerns of sex workers and mediate disputes with
managers. Decriminalisation and the formal recognition of sex work as
work would enable the strengthening and formalisation of these self-
regulatory mechanisms.

EMPOWER, Thailand
Thai sex workers, under the banner of EMPOWER Foundation, have
created a working model of a just, fair workplace: the Can Do Bar in
Chiang Mai. Unlike other entertainment venues in Thailand, the Can
Do Bar complies with Thai Occupational Health and Safety Standards.
Staff are employed in accordance with the Thai Labour Protection Act
and are enrolled in the National Social Security Scheme. The Can Do Bar
also provides opportunities for skill advancement
and promotion. Although as yet there is no formal
Today there is a comprehensive union or association, the workers regularly
system, monitored by the sex meet and are pivotal in guiding changes in
the workplace.23
workers themselves, to ensure
VAMP, India
that no underage or trafficked
Before 2000, many sex workers in communities
individuals are working within where VAMP works were underage. Today there
the community and to uphold is a comprehensive system, monitored by the sex
workers themselves, to ensure that no underage
sex workers’ labour rights. or trafficked individuals are working within
the community and to uphold sex workers’
labour rights. Every site in which VAMP works has a committee, which
addresses disputes amongst sex workers and monitors trafficking and
underage entry.
When a new woman wants to work in the VAMP areas, she must provide
a birth certificate or other proof of age. Children seeking work are
brought before the VAMP committee. The committee members explain
why she should not enter sex work and her rights as a child. Counselling
is a critical part of this process since some traffickers may exploit her
23 EMPOWER Foundation, 2016, “Moving
vulnerability. It is not enough to just turn her away. The committee then
Toward Decent Sex Work: Sex Worker tries to establish who has sent the girl to the community. If they suspect
Community Research: Decent Work and
Exploitation in Thailand” available at
trafficking, the issue is referred to the police.
http://www.nswp.org/resource/moving-
toward-decent-sex-work (last accessed
31 May, 2017).

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The committee also addresses disputes such as low payment by

brothel owners, withholding of payments, dealing with local thugs
who may try to harass sex workers, clients who are drunk, and fights
between brothel owners and clients. The committee also keeps the
sex worker community informed through regular meetings. Using
this empowerment and rights-based approach, VAMP ensures that
standards and norms of behaviour are effectively enforced by the
community.

4 Freedom to organise and unionise

Mainstreaming sex work as work would increase sex workers’ ability to
organise and form associations, collectives and/or unions. Sex workers
would be more able to set industry standards,
provide legal representation and support to
Sex workers would be more able those who are exploited, enter into negotiations,
mediation and collective bargaining with brothel
to set industry standards, provide owners and managers, and launch industrial
legal representation and support actions such as strikes.
to those who are exploited… Some sex worker organisations already work
with allies in unions, and some have successfully
advocated for recognition of sex work by unions.
Unfortunately, some unions oppose the idea of sex work as work. For
example, Stella, Canada reports that “the largest trade union, the CSN
(Confédération des Syndicats Nationaux), is very public in their support
for the abolition of prostitution. They released a public paper in 2012
and have been actively campaigning for more police presence in our
lives. This makes our struggle for recognition of sex work as work even
harder.” NSWP members proposed global efforts to increase labour
organisations’ solidarity with sex workers and to urge organisations,
such as the International Trade Union Federation, to pass resolutions
supporting sex workers’ rights.

Organización de Trabajadoras del Sexo (OTS), El Salvador

OTS regularly meets with representatives from the Ministry of Labour
and municipal authorities, in a form of collaborative governance, based
on the mutual acknowledgement that sex work is labour, to discuss
solutions to the issues affecting sex workers.

Sisonke, South Africa

In 2012, Sisonke successfully lobbied South Africa’s largest trade
union federation, COSATU (Congress of South African Trade
Unions) to recognise sex work as work, and to support the call for
decriminalisation. In her presentation to COSATU, Sisonke organiser
Dudu Dlamini highlighted her family’s anti-apartheid activist
background and detailed the harassment and brutality she and her
colleagues experienced at the hands of the police in the course of
earning a livelihood. Next, she identified herself as a worker and
highlighted the similarities between her job and those of the other
workers in the federation.

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She told them how she had built a house for her and her children from
her sex work earnings:
I told them this story…because I wanted to show them, to make it clear
to them, and open their eyes... The money that we get from sex work, we
do (the same things) that they do with their money – taking our children
to better schools, to get a better education, the same like them. I wanted
them to see that there is no difference. If you’re a nurse, you’re a nurse.
If I’m a sex worker, I’m a sex worker. But at the end of the day, we are
doing the very same thing – we are earning money.24

5 Reduced violence and police harassment

Where sex work is not recognised as work, lack of access to justice
creates impunity for perpetrators of violence against sex workers, as
reported by the Ohotu Diamond Women Initiative, Nigeria:
Not being recognized puts us in jeopardy. The street men and boys and
our clients generally treat us as nobody and believe we can be killed
without the law going after them.

Viewing sex work as work transforms sex workers’ relationship with the
police. For example, sex workers in New Zealand, instead of fearing the
police, can expect protection. They are able to report crimes committed
against them without fear of arrest or having complaints dismissed,
decreasing their vulnerability to violence.

New Zealand
An article from the New Zealand Herald:
Police resolved a dispute between a sex worker
and a client who refused to pay – by escorting the
…sex workers in New Zealand, man to a cash machine to settle his $100 bill.
instead of fearing the police, can The client had refused to pay the woman…Police
settled the matter by driving the man home to
expect protection. They are able to get his wallet, taking him to an ATM and then
report crimes committed against delivering the cash to the worker.
them without fear of arrest or Prostitutes Collective Auckland co-ordinator
Annah Pickering … praised police for defusing the
having complaints dismissed… situation and protecting the sex worker’s rights to
be paid “like any other worker.”
A Counties Manukau police spokesperson said the incident was
common. “It sounds remarkable but it is a routine thing. Police would
help any citizen having a disagreement whether they were a sex worker
or working in a pizza shop.” 25

24 Chi Adanna Mgbako, To live freely in this

world: sex worker activism in Africa (New
York: New York University Press, 2016),
40–43.

25 K irsty Wynn, “Police help short-changed

sex worker”, New Zealand Herald, 13 July
2014, accessed 13 September 2016 at
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/
article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11292537.

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6 Improved occupational health and safety

A labour framework creates working conditions which reduce sex
workers’ vulnerability to HIV and STIs. Decriminalisation of sex work
“would have the greatest effect on the course of HIV epidemics across all
settings, averting 33–46% of HIV infections in the
next decade”, making it the single, most impactful
Decriminalisation of sex work intervention to avert new HIV infections amongst
“would have the greatest effect sex workers 26. Decriminalisation fosters an
enabling environment that increases sex workers’
on the course of HIV epidemics power to insist on condom use and reduces
across all settings, averting vulnerability to sexual violence and barriers to
accessing health services, which NSWP members
33–46% of HIV infections like Red Umbrella Athens emphasise must be
in the next decade”… comprehensive, and include primary care, mental
health, and sexual and reproductive health.
Decriminalisation fosters the creation of occupational health and safety
guidelines, such as the excellent A Guide to Occupational Health and Safety
in the New Zealand Sex Industry 27, a collaborative effort involving NZPC,
local government, and the New Zealand Departments of Labour, Health
and Police. However, even within highly criminalised environments, sex
workers have developed occupational health programmes.

St. James Infirmary, USA

The St. James Infirmary is an Occupational Safety and Health Clinic for
sex workers founded by sex work activists. The clinic’s mission is to
provide non-judgmental, integrated healthcare and social services for
sex workers while preventing occupational illnesses and injuries. Their
approach is rooted in the understanding that sex workers’ vulnerability is
not inherent, but the result of “labour rights violations; lack of legitimacy
as an occupation; and criminalization of…[sex workers, sex work, and
sex workers’ efforts] to work collectively and organize 28.” The St. James
Occupational Health and Safety Handbook is an excellent example of
occupational health guidelines developed by and for sex workers.

7 Improved access to social protection

Social protections provide economic safeguards during periods when
people are unable to work, due to unemployment, sickness, disability or
old age. When sex workers are recognised as workers, they can access
the range of state- or privately-provided social protections to which
all workers should be entitled. These can include sick pay, pensions,
unemployment benefits, maternity or paternity benefits, disability
26 Kate Shannon et al., “Global epidemiology
benefits and workers’ compensation for injury at work.
of HIV among female sex workers:
Influence of structural determinants”
Lancet, 385 (2015):55–71. STRASS, France
27 Occupational Safety and Health Service,
2004, “A Guide to Occupational Health STRASS is working with private companies to establish a mutual health
and Safety in the New Zealand Sex
Industry” available at http://www.
insurance scheme for sex workers. This would enable sex workers to
worksafe.govt.nz/worksafe/information- be insured in cases of work-related accidents and to receive ‘sick leave’
guidance/all-guidance-items/sex-
industry-a-guide-to-occupational-health-
compensation when they are ill.
and-safety-in-the-new-zealand (last
accessed 27 June, 2017).

28 St. James Infirmary, 2010, “Occupational

Health and Safety Manual: 3rd edition”
available at http://stjamesinfirmary.org/
wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/
Occupational-Health-and-Safety-Manual-
Third-Edition-2010.pdf (last accessed
31 May, 2017).

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 POLICY BRIEF Sex Work as Work

8 Improved access to social services and resources

Currently, in many countries, sex workers are channelled towards
conceptually unsound and often forced ‘rescue/rehabilitation/exiting’
programmes, many of which require people to stop sex work, rarely
offer realistic economic alternatives to sex work, are based on moral
judgements of sex work and flawed assumptions
such as ‘all sex workers want to leave the
Recognition of sexwork as work industry’ and ‘any work is better than sex work’.
would allow sex workers to These programmes abuse sex workers’ human
more freely access education and rights and do not represent good practice.
Recognition of sex work as work would allow
development opportunities… sex workers to more freely access education and
development opportunities, whether they wish
to stay in the industry and improve their skills, to develop additional
skills which could provide alternative or complementary income, or to
transition out of the industry entirely.

SWOP-USA, USA
SWOP reports that the vast majority of funded sex worker services in
the United States are court-ordered exit programmes. Viewing sex work
as violence and a crime rather than work, these programmes often
centre shaming and trauma-therapy and ignore sex workers’ skills and
economic needs.
SWOP argues that a labour framework would enable “reconfiguration of
social services from exit-based services to services that offer individuals
in the sex trade client-centred services, based on their own needs and
desires” and even improved exit services that “sufficiently address…
economic motivations…to engage in sex work.”

Respect Queensland, Australia

Respect Queensland implements a person-centred ‘career development
program’. Funded as an exit programme, it serves sex workers with
different needs and wishes, including sex workers who wish to build
their sex work and non-sex work skills and those who wish to transition
away from sex work. This programme focuses on recognising the
transferable skills in sex work and building sex workers’ confidence in
the workforce across the board.
When sex work is recognised as work, sex workers are also treated
as full citizens in terms of access to housing, social, legal and justice
services, psychological counselling, financial institutions, and other
state and privately provided services. In child care and custody cases,
sex workers would not be deemed ‘unfit’ parents simply by virtue of
their occupation.

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 POLICY BRIEF Sex Work as Work

9 Free Choice of Employment

Stigma, discrimination and criminalisation present barriers to sex
workers who want to exercise their right to occupational choice and find
alternative employment. These barriers include criminal records and
lack of ‘employment history’. Hydra reports that
in Germany, employees have a duty to disclose to
Stigma, discrimination and their employers if they have other part-time jobs.
criminalisation present barriers to Hydra regularly deals with cases where part-time
sex workers are fired from their main occupations,
sex workers who want to exercise even though sex work is legal in Germany.
their right to occupational choice Drawing on Germany’s anti-discrimination
laws, Hydra is lobbying to exempt sex workers
and find alternative employment. from the duty to disclose, as long as sex work is
socially stigmatised.
Recognising sex work as work would support sex workers in a person-
centred way which respects individual choices. In the words of Scarlett
Alliance, Australia, if sex work were recognised as work, “if we no longer
want to do sex work, we [could] choose to leave our jobs, and the skills
we develop and use in sex work [would be] more likely to be recognised
and valued by other industries.”

10 Alliances with other workers and

broader social movements
A labour analysis allows for recognition of commonalities between sex
work and other types of work, including in other sectors with a high
degree of informal labour and worker vulnerability, such as domestic
and agricultural labour. Viewed through a labour framework lens, many
of the unacceptable and exploitative conditions in the sex work cease to
be peculiar to the industry. This enables sex worker-led organisations
to position their challenges in the context of the macro-political and
economic forces, such as globalisation, austerity and anti-immigration
measures, and a decline in traditional forms of formal employment.
It also provides an opportunity to form alliances with other groups
of workers and to link the struggle for sex workers’ rights to broader
social movements.
In Burundi, although sex worker organisations emerged only five years
ago, their participation in alliances with feminist and sexual and
reproductive health rights movements has shifted public discourse
around sex work, with ‘mainstream’ organisations increasingly
addressing issues made visible by marginalised grassroots organisations.
Some participants in this consultation have proposed that the sex
workers’ rights movement strengthen its links with global movements of
other informal workers, such as domestic workers, who often share many
experiences and difficulties.

People’s Parliament, Kenya

In Kenya, sex workers have joined Bunge la Mwanachi, or People’s
Parliament, a class-based anti-poverty movement of street vendors,
street people, minibus drivers, LGBT people and sex workers united to
protest against harassment and abuse from police and security forces,
and tax increases on basic commodities that hit the poor the hardest.29

29 Chi Adanna Mgbako, To Live Freely in this

World: Sex Worker Activism in Africa, 135.

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POLICY BRIEF Sex Work as Work

Towards a Decent Sex Work Agenda

The Decent Work Agenda and its four pillars (promotion of the basic
rights of workers, creation of employment opportunities, improving
social protection and strengthening social dialogue) offer a useful
framework to develop standards for ‘decent’ sex work. NSWP asked its
members to describe the elements of decent sex work. They identified
the following characteristics of decent work:
◗◗ The decriminalisation of all aspects of sex work. This includes the
decriminalisation of the sale and purchase of sex, and of third parties,
families, partners and friends.
◗◗ Fair labour practices, in line with existing labour laws, including
reasonable working hours and working conditions, the right to refuse
clients or certain services and freedom from exploitative labour
practices, including paying fines.
◗◗ A clean and safe working environment.
◗◗ Access to condoms and personal protective equipment, without these
being mandatory.
◗◗ Access to voluntary, non-stigmatising and comprehensive health
services.
◗◗ Freedom from violence and sexual harassment.
◗◗ The right to choose work arrangements, including the choice to work
for an employer, or to work independently.
◗◗ The right of sex workers to control establishment of health and safety
standards in their industry.
◗◗ The right to form workplace associations, or to unionise and be
covered under industrial relations legislation, including protections to
prevent reprisal for joining or being a member of a union.
◗◗ Rights for migrant sex workers.
◗◗ The right to social protections and benefits which are the right of
all employees, including unemployment, parental, retirement and
disability benefits, leave and workers compensation in the event of a
work-related injury or illness.
◗◗ Access to statutory complaint mechanisms to address contraventions
of employment standards legislation.
◗◗ The right to refuse services.
◗◗ The right to access health and social services free from stigma and
discrimination.
◗◗ Freedom from discrimination by other employers, landlords, or judges
in family court due to current or prior involvement in sex work.

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 POLICY BRIEF Sex Work as Work

Sex work as work is a powerful conceptual tool which provides a

framework for the sex workers’ rights movement in its campaigning
for and beyond decriminalisation. The concept of a Decent Sex Work
Agenda allows us to develop standards for fair and acceptable working
conditions and to advocate for the actualisation of those conditions. For
example, EMPOWER Thailand uses a Decent Sex
Work framework to measure whether workplaces
Sex work as work is a powerful meet conditions of decent work. They argue that
conceptual tool which provides a criminalisation precludes decent work in Thailand,
such that 87.2% of Thai sex workers work in sub-
framework for the sex workers’ standard conditions, and 13% under conditions
rights movement in its campaigning that can be deemed Unacceptable forms of Sex
Work, including debt bondage, forced labour
for and beyond decriminalisation. and human trafficking 30. A nuanced analysis
of sex workers’ working conditions allows for a
more effective, appropriate, person-centred response to the complex
challenges sex workers experience. According to EMPOWER, the decent
sex work continuum can be used in the development of policies and
practices for addressing sex worker concerns. It allows for the creation
of measurable indicators to decide “which working conditions require
intervention using labour or civil law; which require criminal law
response and which require some combination of the two.”
In conclusion, that sex work is work has been a foundational principle
of the sex workers’ rights movement for some time, and many are
frustrated at having to constantly combat morality-driven policies that
ignore sex workers’ own experiences. In the words of Stella, Canada:
It will be an exciting moment when we can actively work to improve labour
conditions in an open way and make labour improvements needed in the
sex industry, rather than focus on harm frameworks of the current laws.

Recommendations
◗◗ States should recognise sex work as work and extend to sex workers
all the legal protections and rights to which all workers are entitled.
◗◗ Recognising that decriminalisation protects the right of sex workers
to freely choose and practice their occupation, all states should
decriminalise all aspects of sex work and remove all punitive and
discriminatory laws and policies.
◗◗ Governments (including departments of labour, police and justice)
should collaborate with sex worker organisations and other key
stakeholders to work towards the elimination of all forms of
exploitation in the sex industry.
◗◗ Governments should implement measures which will improve
safe working conditions for sex workers, including an end to police
harassment and abuse of sex workers and access to justice when
crimes are committed against them.
◗◗ ILO should take the lead in supporting sex workers in advancing a
decent sex work agenda and emphasising that sex work is work.

30 EMPOWER Foundation, 2016, “Moving

toward decent sex work: sex work
community research: decent work and
exploitation in Thailand”.

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POLICY BRIEF Sex Work as Work

◗◗ Sex workers should have access to occupational health services that

address the full range of sex workers’ occupational health needs, in
a respectful and confidential manner, and are not limited to a focus
on HIV.
◗◗ State and private institutions should not discriminate against sex
workers with regard to access to social protections, benefits and
financial entitlements; labour mediation services; housing; financial
institutions; or any other services.
◗◗ Sex workers should have access to learning and development
opportunities which are person-centred, and which support their
occupational needs and choices, and are not solely focused on exiting
the industry.
◗◗ Trade unions and federations should extend their membership to sex
workers and support sex workers in their struggle for the realisation
of labour rights.

Global Network of Sex Work Projects 16

This policy brief is the result of desk research and
gathering case studies from NSWP members.

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